Campaigns Begin On Benton County’s Rural Ambulance Vote

Monday, January 6, 2014

— Supporters and opponents of Benton County’s rural ambulance plan will look for ways to spread their message as the Feb. 11 vote approaches.

Several of the county’s justices of the peace have scheduled or are planning town hall meetings to visit with constituents about the vote, while organizers of the petition drive that put the issue on the ballot will examine their options as well.

Tom Allen, justice of the peace for District 4, has a meeting set for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Cave Springs Community Center. Susan Anglin, justice of the peace for District 9, has three meetings set where she plans to provide voters with information about the referendum. Anglin will meet with interested parties at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 16 at Highfill City Hall; at 9 a.m. Jan. 18 at the Centerton’s Mayor’s Coffee at the Centerton Community Center and at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 30 at the Centerton Fire Department.

“My concern is that people won’t come out to vote,” Anglin said. “I know the county is planning to mail out a letter, but I don’t know if that’s enough. It’s important that people have the facts about the issue.”

Allen said he wants to make information available to voters. He said he plans to ask County Judge Bob Clinard, County Attorney George Spence and other county administrators, along with any other interested justices of the peace, to attend the meeting and help provide information and answer questions.

“I just want to make sure everybody’s aware of all the facts,” Allen said. “I think it’s important for them to know where we’ve been on this issue and how we got to where we are now.”

Kurt Moore, justice of the peace for District 13, said he probably will set a meeting for people in southwestern Benton County, but he hadn’t finalized any arrangements. Moore is waiting to see what other justices of the peace might do to avoid any scheduling conflicts and to make sure people throughout his district would have convenient access to at least one meeting.

The Quorum Court in September created an emergency medical services district and set an $85 annual fee to be levied on households outside incorporated cities and towns and not in the area served by the Northeast Benton County Emergency Medical Service District. The fee would be included on property tax statements.

Theresa Pockrus, a Fayetteville attorney and former Benton County collector, helped organize a petition drive to call for a vote on the fee and district. The petition drive ended Dec. 2 and netted enough signatures to force a vote.

Pockrus said she and other organizers of the petition drive will consider what they might do in advance of the Feb. 11 vote.

At A Glance

Rural Ambulance Costs

Benton County officials have agreed to pay the seven municipal fire departments that provide rural ambulance service about $942,000 for 2014. The money would ensure the service is available, but not pay the cost of patient care. All of the cities — Bella Vista, Bentonville, Gravette, Pea Ridge, Rogers, Springdale and Siloam Springs — have said they will bill private insurance, Medicaid and Medicare and the patients involved for the cost of any calls for service where a patient is transported by ambulance.

Source: Staff Report

“We’ll probably be meeting next week to formulate a game plan,” Pockrus said.

Pockrus said she is curious about the informational letter county officials have said they plan to send to voters.

“Frankly, I don’t think the county can take a position,” she said. “They took a position when they adopted the ordinance at the September Quorum Court meeting.”

The county can provide factual information without advocating a yes or no vote on the issue, Spence said. Justices of the peace can advocate a particular position, as long as they are not using county resources to do so, he said.

“I think the county has the ability and the authority to give people factual information,” Spence said. “The JPs are different. By their nature they’re political. If they want to be political they can as long as they’re not spending county money on it.”

Spence told the Quorum Court he believes the county could schedule an election early in 2014 and still have the fee placed on this year’s tax statements if the measure is approved. If the tax goes into effect after the deadline for placing the information on the statements the county could not collect the fee until 2015. The county has estimated the $85 fee will generate about $1.2 million annually.

The justices of the peace removed the projected revenue from the ambulance fee from the 2014 budget after petitions calling for the referendum were certified. The county planned to budget $950,000 for 2014 to pay the cities that provide ambulance service. The justices of the peace reduced that to $236,000, which will pay the cities through March. The Quorum Court would need to find another source of money or end the payments to the cities if the election succeeds in blocking the proposed ambulance service fee.